Today, Thunderpants has grown to produce nearly 50,000 garments a year including kids’ clothes, swimwear, yoga pants, leggings, tops, camis and, most recently, bedding.
Thunderpants is a living wage accredited organisation which means all of their employees, including all contractors, sewing crew and fabric printers are paid a living wage or more. This reflects the basic expenses of workers and their families such as food, transportation, housing and childcare. The living wage accredited organisation recognises women’s full employment rights and is committed to ensuring that women receive their full statutory employment benefits. Where women are employed, even where it is an informal employment situation, they receive equal pay for equal work and it is taken into account the special health and safety needs of pregnant women and breast-feeding mothers.
Thunderpants chose to purchase Fairtrade Certified Organic Cotton yarn for their bulk production to ensure that their fabric suppliers abide by the strict protocols required to achieve the certifications incorporating the International Labour Laws. This has an enormous social impact on those growers and workers in India where our yarn comes from, alongside minimising the ecological issues around cotton growing and production.
All the yarn for our cotton fabrics come from Vardhman textiles in India. This is a very large organisation with 10,000+ employees with strict protocols around HR, sustainability and women’s support, plus education for farmers and workers, building schools and being involved in the community that their workers and growers live in.
All of the fabric and components arrive at their manufacturers, SS clothing in Carterton who are 20 minutes up the road from the Thunderpants HQ. They work 8am – 3pm, four days a week and only sew for Thunderpants.
“We have been working with this crew for 23 years. We pay them a set price per garment and that price is periodically increased to keep in line with their rising costs. Everyone at SS clothing earns a living wage.”
These highly-skilled ladies are masters at making Thunderpants and take great pride in the quality of their work, checking regularly that they are meeting the criteria that makes sure the unique design works.
Thunderpants have spent years looking for the right companies to work with and have been very honest and transparent about where their expectations lie. They hope they can inspire you to become demanding.
“The choices you make and the products you buy really do affect producers, businesses, and families across the world.”
To find out more about Thunderpants and to see their full range of garments, head to their website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
